PIF4 enhances the expression of genes to promote growth in response to nitrate.

Nitrate supply is fundamental to support shoot growth and crop performance, but the associated increase in stem height exacerbates the risks of lodging and yield losses. Despite their significance for agriculture, the mechanisms involved in the promotion of stem growth by nitrate remain poorly understood. Here, we show that the elongation of the hypocotyl of , used as a model, responds rapidly and persistently to upshifts in nitrate concentration, rather than to the nitrate level itself.

SAUR proteins and PP2C.D phosphatases regulate H+-ATPases and K+ channels to control stomatal movements.

Activation of plasma membrane (PM) H+-ATPase activity is crucial in guard cells to promote light-stimulated stomatal opening, and in growing organs to promote cell expansion. In growing organs, SMALL AUXIN UP RNA (SAUR) proteins inhibit the PP2C.D2, PP2C.

Cell-Based Model of the Generation and Maintenance of the Shape and Structure of the Multilayered Shoot Apical Meristem of Arabidopsis thaliana.

One of the central problems in animal and plant developmental biology is deciphering how chemical and mechanical signals interact within a tissue to produce organs of defined size, shape, and function. Cell walls in plants impose a unique constraint on cell expansion since cells are under turgor pressure and do not move relative to one another. Cell wall extensibility and constantly changing distribution of stress on the wall are mechanical properties that vary between individual cells and contribute to rates of expansion and orientation of cell division.

Cytokinin stabilizes WUSCHEL by acting on the protein domains required for nuclear enrichment and transcription.

Concentration-dependent transcriptional regulation and the spatial regulation of transcription factor levels are poorly studied in plant development. WUSCHEL, a stem cell-promoting homeodomain transcription factor, accumulates at a higher level in the rib meristem than in the overlying central zone, which harbors stem cells in the shoot apical meristems of Arabidopsis thaliana. The differential accumulation of WUSCHEL in adjacent cells is critical for the spatial regulation and levels of CLAVATA3, a negative regulator of WUSCHEL transcription.

Threshold-dependent transcriptional discrimination underlies stem cell homeostasis.

Transcriptional mechanisms that underlie the dose-dependent regulation of gene expression in animal development have been studied extensively. However, the mechanisms of dose-dependent transcriptional regulation in plant development have not been understood. In Arabidopsis shoot apical meristems, WUSCHEL (WUS), a stem cell-promoting transcription factor, accumulates at a higher level in the rib meristem and at a lower level in the central zone where it activates its own negative regulator, CLAVATA3 (CLV3).

DNA-dependent homodimerization, sub-cellular partitioning, and protein destabilization control WUSCHEL levels and spatial patterning.

The homeodomain transcription factor WUSCHEL (WUS) promotes stem cell maintenance in inflorescence meristems of Arabidopsis thaliana WUS, which is synthesized in the rib meristem, migrates and accumulates at lower levels in adjacent cells. Maintenance of WUS protein levels and spatial patterning distribution is not well-understood. Here, we show that the last 63-aa stretch of WUS is necessary for maintaining different levels of WUS protein in the rib meristem and adjacent cells.

Gene expression analysis of shoot apical meristem cell types.

Shoot apical meristems (SAMs) of higher plants harbor a set of stem-cells and provide cells for the development of all the above-ground biomass of plants. Most of the important pattern formation events such as maintenance of stem-cell identity, specification and differentiation of leaf/flower primordia, and temporal control of the transition from vegetative to reproductive program are determined in SAMs. Genetic analysis has revealed molecular and hormonal pathways involved in stem-cell maintenance, organ differentiation, and flowering time.